Japango - Pearl Street Boulder, CO
I needed to try something new last night, so off to Japango I went. Friends and bartenders have recommended this place for a couple of years now, but the mention of an All You Can Eat Sushi deal has scared me off. Walk with me down memory lane so you, too, can experience Japango.....
After entering, I noticed the smell of incense, which is ok unless you can smell it where you are seated to eat. For me, and I'm sure others, the TASTE of food is multilayered - there is the taste, the feel of the food in your mouth, the visual, and the smell. Well, I couldn't smell the incense, but I sure could smell the Urinal Cake! Don't ask me how I know this smell since I don't know, but it smelled like the deodorizing things they stick in mens' urinals - it's a distinct odor that you'll recognize when you smell it. Well, it kept wafting around me off and on for the brief hour I was sitting at the sushi bar. Alright, enough about the smells and on to the food!
I started off with Sake and Plum Wine which they made fairly well, and Edamame, which was warm and salty just the way I like it. Our waitress, and she is being mentioned by name because she was an Excellent Server! (Good servers can be hard to find in Boulder, Colorado, so when someone is excellent, it must be mentioned!) Her name is Mimmy :-) She was professional and attentive. Perfect.
I had the HAMACHI KAMA - Yellowtail collar - which I always order plain since I like to dip in Ponzu sauce. It reminded me of a large Turkey Wing - thin and crispy - not what I usually get. And the ponzu sauce was way too sweet and oily - very odd combination for ponzu even if it is made in house. I wouldn't order this again, but I did eat almost the whole thing!
I also ordered the Tsukemono - Pickled Vegetables - and they get points for giving me such a generous serving! I buy these for home so I know what the retail prices are and that Sushi Bars charge way too much, so getting so much food for a good price made me very happy :-)
Oh, I forgot to mention the GARI! The ginger they serve has that asparatame stuff in it - I hate the taste of that stuff and it makes my throat close up a little bit so I went without. I used the Tsukemono to help cleanse my palatte.
Negihama - yellowtail with green onions roll - was kind of large, but that's good, but it really had very little flavor.
The sushi pieces I ordered are part of my standard sushi bar test - Salmon, Yellowtail, and Tuna. As I say on my website, fish should not be dull looking for that is a sign of aging. The sushi I received was very dull all the way down to the flavor! It didn't taste fishy or smell fishy, but with the urinal cake smell wafting over me, I'm not sure of the smell. This is a perfect example of not so fresh fish - dull in appearance, the texture was broken down slightly, and the sad part is that all 3 fish tasted the same! I could not tell the difference between these fish! It was as if they had been soaked in water, they were that bland. I suppose it was a good thing that the slices were skimpy.
There was a highlight to my visit other than the wonderful server (Mimmy) ... Japango offers some interesting rolls and sushi. For the most part I enjoy traditional Japanese food, but hey, even I can't pass up a cool new combination! They have the sushi dish called El Corazon which consists of Spicy Tuna, Avocado, Jalapeno, Smelt Roe, served on top of a tempura rice cake (uh oh, there's that word CAKE again!)
The rice cake was easily one inch think, so thick it overpowered the other flavors, but as it turns out that was probably a good thing. They put a slice of the dull, flavorless Tuna on top of the rice, then a thin slice of jalapeno and avocado on top of that and drizzled with what tasted like Tsume (sweet eel sauce) over the whole thing. The sweet/spicy combo did not work with this dish. And since the rice cake was so thick I had to use my hands to take 3 bites per piece. I do believe this is where that fishy stinky smell on my hands came from. Even after washing my hands a few times, the stink would not go away.... that smell does NOT go well with Bailey's and Coffee!
I have had this Spicy Tuna served on a Rice Cake before and it was excellent - FRESH Tuna perfectly blended with Dynamite sauce and little tiny pieces of jalapeno and green onions, served on top of a rice cake no higher than 1/2 inch. Perfect!
At one point I looked down and counted 5 plates in front of me:
Tsukemono
Negihama
Sushi Pieces
Hamachi Kama
El Corazon
I didn't count the edamame. The Sushi Chef did not pay attention to how far along we had eaten, and just kept making things and putting them in front of us leaving us to figure out where to put everything. I don't like being rushed and it's not like the place was busy or anything.... From start to finish I was in and out of there is 65 minutes. Now I know where they got the name... Japan - GO!
After entering, I noticed the smell of incense, which is ok unless you can smell it where you are seated to eat. For me, and I'm sure others, the TASTE of food is multilayered - there is the taste, the feel of the food in your mouth, the visual, and the smell. Well, I couldn't smell the incense, but I sure could smell the Urinal Cake! Don't ask me how I know this smell since I don't know, but it smelled like the deodorizing things they stick in mens' urinals - it's a distinct odor that you'll recognize when you smell it. Well, it kept wafting around me off and on for the brief hour I was sitting at the sushi bar. Alright, enough about the smells and on to the food!
I started off with Sake and Plum Wine which they made fairly well, and Edamame, which was warm and salty just the way I like it. Our waitress, and she is being mentioned by name because she was an Excellent Server! (Good servers can be hard to find in Boulder, Colorado, so when someone is excellent, it must be mentioned!) Her name is Mimmy :-) She was professional and attentive. Perfect.
I had the HAMACHI KAMA - Yellowtail collar - which I always order plain since I like to dip in Ponzu sauce. It reminded me of a large Turkey Wing - thin and crispy - not what I usually get. And the ponzu sauce was way too sweet and oily - very odd combination for ponzu even if it is made in house. I wouldn't order this again, but I did eat almost the whole thing!
I also ordered the Tsukemono - Pickled Vegetables - and they get points for giving me such a generous serving! I buy these for home so I know what the retail prices are and that Sushi Bars charge way too much, so getting so much food for a good price made me very happy :-)
Oh, I forgot to mention the GARI! The ginger they serve has that asparatame stuff in it - I hate the taste of that stuff and it makes my throat close up a little bit so I went without. I used the Tsukemono to help cleanse my palatte.
Negihama - yellowtail with green onions roll - was kind of large, but that's good, but it really had very little flavor.
The sushi pieces I ordered are part of my standard sushi bar test - Salmon, Yellowtail, and Tuna. As I say on my website, fish should not be dull looking for that is a sign of aging. The sushi I received was very dull all the way down to the flavor! It didn't taste fishy or smell fishy, but with the urinal cake smell wafting over me, I'm not sure of the smell. This is a perfect example of not so fresh fish - dull in appearance, the texture was broken down slightly, and the sad part is that all 3 fish tasted the same! I could not tell the difference between these fish! It was as if they had been soaked in water, they were that bland. I suppose it was a good thing that the slices were skimpy.
There was a highlight to my visit other than the wonderful server (Mimmy) ... Japango offers some interesting rolls and sushi. For the most part I enjoy traditional Japanese food, but hey, even I can't pass up a cool new combination! They have the sushi dish called El Corazon which consists of Spicy Tuna, Avocado, Jalapeno, Smelt Roe, served on top of a tempura rice cake (uh oh, there's that word CAKE again!)
The rice cake was easily one inch think, so thick it overpowered the other flavors, but as it turns out that was probably a good thing. They put a slice of the dull, flavorless Tuna on top of the rice, then a thin slice of jalapeno and avocado on top of that and drizzled with what tasted like Tsume (sweet eel sauce) over the whole thing. The sweet/spicy combo did not work with this dish. And since the rice cake was so thick I had to use my hands to take 3 bites per piece. I do believe this is where that fishy stinky smell on my hands came from. Even after washing my hands a few times, the stink would not go away.... that smell does NOT go well with Bailey's and Coffee!
I have had this Spicy Tuna served on a Rice Cake before and it was excellent - FRESH Tuna perfectly blended with Dynamite sauce and little tiny pieces of jalapeno and green onions, served on top of a rice cake no higher than 1/2 inch. Perfect!
At one point I looked down and counted 5 plates in front of me:
Tsukemono
Negihama
Sushi Pieces
Hamachi Kama
El Corazon
I didn't count the edamame. The Sushi Chef did not pay attention to how far along we had eaten, and just kept making things and putting them in front of us leaving us to figure out where to put everything. I don't like being rushed and it's not like the place was busy or anything.... From start to finish I was in and out of there is 65 minutes. Now I know where they got the name... Japan - GO!
posted by Sushi_Gal at 10:00 AM
9 Comments:
>.... that smell does NOT go well with Bailey's and Coffee!
Did you use "Bailley's"liquer for washing hands???
uuummmm....If I were you,it was Basil leaf or squeezed ginger...I think (T0T;
my dear sama... next time I will wipe my hands with lots of ginger to get rid of the smell of aged fish!
Thank you for the suggestion (*^*)
what time and day did you go? when my friends and i go it is always packed and we sometimes have to wait for an hour. next time ask not to be setted next to the restrooms, though i never have noticed the urine cake smell that you mentioned. hope your next visit is a better one, if there is another.
Let's see... I was there on a Saturday night, but it was early around 5:30-6. Oh, I remember it took less than an hour and we were out by 7. The funny thing is I was seated at the bar next to the hostess stand and by the front doorway! I'm figuring the restrooms were at the other side of the bar....
Next time you're there, let me know if you smell anything funny (laughing)!
I will probaby try Japango again and I'll leave a follow up :-) Thanks for your post!
They've really gone downhill in the past couple of months. I used to do their all you can eat special almost every Tuesday and they were by far the best sushi place I've been to so far, but about a month and a half or so ago they took a turn for the worse and their sushi went from fantastic to so-so. I'd rate them only slightly better than the Benihana in Broomfield at the moment (ouch...)
I'm going to go again in a week or two and see if it was just an aberration. I'd really hate to lose my favorite Boulder sushi restuarant :-(
Hey Thanks for the post!
It's depressing when your favorite sushi place has a bad night. One night is sad, but acceptable depending on just how bad it is. But week after week makes you start to wonder if you're eating something that will come back to haunt you later that day....
What I suggest is You Tell The Manager! If you really like the place and want to go there again, you need to let them know. Think about it.... the people that work in a restaurant don't eat the food all the time. There should be quality control somewhere along the line, but maybe it's being missed or someone's definition of FRESH is different than ours. Take the time to let them know.
I do take the time to mention the freshness sometimes.... something like, "Oh this fish was GREAT last week and this week it's only so-so." Some chefs will recommend something different that night if I order something they think isn't that fresh.
Ok, 'nuf rambling from me! Go Eat SUSHI!!! Then come back and talk about it :-)
Enjoy!
I grew up here in boulder and sushi is my favorate food, I found japango to be so-so. Sushi TORA just down the street is perfessional, with very experienced chefs that are always friendly and have been prepairing fish as long as I can remember (15 yrs. They also seem to find the freshest fish your gona find in boulder. I know what to expect every time and they have some realy reasonable lunch speacials to take advantage of! My favorate roll there is the tora no maki, eel, salmon, masago, avocado, and more!
I love the Hamachi Kama! Although I won't lie to you: Japangos are a LOT smaller than other restaurants in Boulder! By far my favorite sushi place in Boulder is AI SUSHI!!
I was interested to see that your sushi bar trio is the same as mine! Although I always throw a little Tamago in there as well... It's in my top five things to order!
http://www.best5everything.com/best5ListPages/thingsordersushirestaurant22842.php
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